Statues

Assignment to choose a historical event / character / etc and incorporate it into a modern narrative. Originally published December 2023

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The park was somewhat hidden behind the apartments and shops of the city centre. Peering through the trees stood a tall castle tower, paired with a statue of a determined lady, as if she was defending it.

As Eugene approached the tower, dog tugging at the leash, the entrance to the park showed itself, and the dainty statue revealed that it was of a woman whose name had been Bertha. Bertha van Heukelom. And he wondered why, out of all places and all people, she was the one standing in front of the remnants of the castle. Not a king? Or had she been queen?

The words on the plaque were familiar to him, but estranged from the present. He could make out that the words "castle" and "woman" had been paired together, and that the dates below her name and title were the years in which she had been alive. She'd been 57 years old.

The translation app on his phone, when he managed to stop the dog from tugging to get a clear picture, informed him that the language he was trying to translate was still Dutch, but of medieval origin, and it had rhymed. "Toont hoeveel een vrouwe vermagh

Wanneer zij IJsselstein verdedigt jaer en dagh"

"It shows how much a woman can do

When she defends IJsselstein year and day"

He jotted down the words, disappointed they hadn't rhymed in English, and hoped to find a suitable rhyme for the translation if he just poured over it enough.

Eugene let the dog loose to run around in the greenery. He remained at the statue, pondering.

Bertha had been the legendary heroine in the siege of IJsselstein, all the way back in 1296. He walked around the park and around the castle tower, imagining how a hundred years back people had stood here too, fighting for their lives, fighting for their honour and fighting for IJsselstein.

How such a quaint town could hold so much history, so much folklore and so many tales. Stories still passed down from generation to generation, commemorated by statues and plaques. History had been made aeons ago, but if he wandered around just long enough, and talked to people all around, he could still feel it, despite this place not being his home, his birthplace or even birthcountry. Breathing through the town, through the buildings, through the people and eventually through himself. The town itself was anxiously waiting to tell all its stories to him, hoping he'd find them all.

And Bertha had been one of those people ensuring that it wouldn't die. She may not have fought physically, as she was still a noble lady after all, but oh dear, could he imagine she was cunning, making a mental note to visit the local museum, he'd heard of, and maybe even see if they had a historical hub and with archives.

She'd defended IJsselstein when no other could, not even her husband, who'd managed to get himself kidnapped, right as the town got caught between a crossfire of the Hollander Earls and Utrechter Bishops. Neither of them would take IJsselstein and she'd make sure of it.

She managed to take revenge on the man who kidnapped her husband, and it was the combination of her perseverance and strong attitude that caused IJsselstein to still stand tall today. Her admiration as a heroin was well deserved, and he was thankful to have found her statue, thankful of her strong wit, and thankful that out of all places this is where he'd moved; a picturesque town in the middle of nowhere, that waited for someone like him to be discovered, and its stories to be told.

He sighed peacefully and joined his dog within the greenery.

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Bertha van Heukelom was a Dutch noble and the legendary heroine of the Siege of IJsselstein Castle in 1296. A statue of her resides at the entrance of 'Kasteelpark' in IJsselstein.